PLANNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE EUROPE? - TU Berlin

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transport-related policies, the Commission ultimately resisted making any commitments
in this particular arena but instead remained wary of the subsidarity principle.
5.4.3 The European Spatial Development Perspective
Both the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) adopted in Potsdam
in 1999 in its final version by all EU Ministers responsible for Spatial Planning and the
related CEMAT guidelines, contain many principles and recommendations designed to
develop more sustainable land use structures. In its section two, “Spatial Development
Issues of European Significance,” the ESDP (EC 1999:64) contains a special sub-section
on Continuing Urban Sprawl which warns that
uncontrolled growth results in increased levels of private transport; increases energy
consumption; makes infrastructure and services more costly; and has negative effects
on the quality of the countryside and the environment.
Finding it “necessary to work together to find sustainable solutions for planning
and managing urban growth” the ESDP makes explicit reference to the Dutch “compact
city approach,” “land recycling” in Germany and to “target group” approaches (EC
1999:66). 16
16 Despite this rhetoric, it is certainly possible -- although not appropriate for this particular study -- to
make the argument that the ESDP's core policy aims have themselves very problematic implications with
regard to land use in major agglomerations, since the ESDP philosophy is often partial to the deconcentration
of core economic areas and an overall de-densification of European territory. More
concretely, the ESDP section on “Policy aims and Options for the Territory of the EU” calls for the
development of a “polycentric and balanced urban system,” for “overcoming the outdated dualism between
city and countryside” and for “parity of access to infrastructure and knowledge” (EC 1999:19-20). Even
without venturing deeply into incinerating debates over the nature of polycentricity and polynucleated
regions in Europe (also see Chapter 6), it should be pointed out that this approach is not necessarily
congruent with an active promotion of compact city approaches in major urban capitals.